That is correct, your eyes do not deceive you. The label pictured at right IS the 2006 Sean Thackrey Andromeda, and not the 2004 that is clearly indicated in the title of this entry. The bad news is that the two label shots taken of the ’04 with Kim’s otherwise incredible Droid Incredible were just not good enough to use, and since we have two bottles of the ’06 in the Cellar from Heck, and Thackrey’s Andromeda labels look exactly the same in all other ways except for that one little ’4′ and the equally minuscule ’6′ (not to mention the alcohol content), I made an executive decision to go with what we have. So there.

The good news is that the wine itself is quite nice; here are my impressions.

2004 Sean Thackrey Andromeda Devil’s Gulch Vineyard Marin County Pinot Noir, 15.3% alc.: Clean, dark garnet color, with the classic Thackrey kiss of oak over smoky black cherry on the nose, echoing and expanding on the palate; rich, ripe and expressive, with earthy undertones to the sweet fruit that will never be mistaken for a “Burgundian” wannabe, and that’s fine with us. Fairly substantial in body and even more so in structure, with very nice length. Drinking pretty well already (and, as you might expect, it gets better and better with air), but nowhere near its best; another three-to-five years or more should coax a variety of layered nuances from this. Find this wine

Click here for a good read about Devil’s Gulch Vineyard and a smallish picture of the actual label. Click HERE to read about and view videos of our visit with Mr. Thackrey last May.

3 Responses to “2004 Sean Thackrey Andromeda Pinot Noir”

Thanks for the feedback, Joe! Yeah, Marin isn’t generally recognized as a hotbed of Pinot Noir production. Ironically, the first ones we ever had were way back in the late ’80s or early ’90s, when we were first investigating the variety. We didn’t care much for Pinot Noir back then, but a good buddy of ours opened a couple from Kalin Cellars that pretty much did the trick. If you opened the link to the Devil’s Gulch Vineyard Pdf. at the end of my entry, you probably noted that Kalin was making their Pinots from Devil’s Gulch fruit back then. They weren’t bright and fruit forward like too many from Cal these days (in my not-so-humble opinion), but rather more earthy, with delicious mushroom undertones. Good stuff then, and good stuff now!

I’ve drank a lot of wine, but for no good reason, I never thought of Marin Co. as a wine producer. This is the second recommendation for a Pinot Noir from Marin I’ve heard in a month. Zero mentions of anything Marin Co. before then. Weird!